


Are Teenage Dreams So Hard To Beat?

by slightly_ajar



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Episode: s02e04 X-Ray + Penny, Friendship, smashing the Bechdel Test
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25856377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightly_ajar/pseuds/slightly_ajar
Summary: This is set just after the events of X Ray + Penny.  Cage is taking a moment to process what happened, Jill comes to see if she’s okay.“I didn’t predict Murdoc’s move.  He got the better of us.  I don’t like that.”
Comments: 11
Kudos: 12





	Are Teenage Dreams So Hard To Beat?

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Comfort Zone challenge. I was thinking about characters I haven’t used before and decided to write a story centred on Cage because she’s never been in anything I’ve written. I added Jill to the story too because I realised I’ve never written a story that only had female characters in, I’ve written lots of stories that only feature men but never one with just women. I’m a bit shocked at myself for that to be honest – I’ll have to look at doing things differently in the future.
> 
> The story title comes from the song Teenage Kicks by The Undertones

There was a secret garden in the tucked within the confines of the Phoenix Foundation’s headquarters. It wasn’t hidden within high stone walls and the key to it’s door had never been buried but Cage had named it The Secret Garden when she’d first seen it and she didn’t feel the need to change that. The garden had roses, it had orchids and daffodils and a large section of it was taken up with different herbs. Some of the flowers were being used in experiments and as a control group for the hydroponics lab but the garden was also a place where agents could go to when they needed space and quiet. Cage knew how important peace and stillness could be but had never sought them out herself since starting with the Phoenix, not until then. 

She stood resting against a shaded wall with a cigarette held between the fingers of her right hand, smelling the sweetness of the flowers in the air and listening to the buzz of bees busily collecting pollen. 

“Good afternoon,” A tentative voice with a matching tentative wave announced Jill’s arrival. Jill glanced at her watch, “Actually, I suppose it’s evening now. Are you okay?” 

“I’ve been checked over at Medical and the nurse said that I have a few minor injuries but I’m fine,” Cage said, looking down to watch the smoke from her cigarette drift away from her. 

“That’s great,” Jill replied, her bright eyes keen behind her glasses, “but are you okay?” 

Cage had tried smoking twice when she’d been a teenager. She’d hated the burn in her lungs and the acrid taste on her tongue both times so had never picked up the habit but she did like to hold a cigarette in her hand every now and then. The sensation of the roll of tobacco between her fingers evoked a particular feeling, one she didn’t seek out that often but sometimes craved and couldn’t find anywhere else, so she always kept a pack of cigarettes in her locker. 

Cage held her cigarette up, “Would you like one?” she said, smiling to herself as surprise, deliberation and a childlike thrill flashed one then the other in micro-expressions across Jill’s face. 

Jill gave her shoulders an impish little shuffle and said, “Go on then.” 

Cage pulled her packet of cigarettes from her back pocket, lit one for Jill and passed it over. The smoke from the cigarette twisted up and around Jill and she held it out at arms-length, blinking to clear the sting from her eyes. 

“I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do with this thing now,” Jill confessed, nodding at her cigarette with a sheepish twitch tugging her lips upwards. 

“To really get into the full sneaking a ciggy vibe you need to lean and slouch.” Cage pushed her shoulders back against the wall behind her and sunk into a slump, “It’s all in the hips and shoulders. You should try and look like you’re bored because you’re too cool to find anything interesting too.” 

“Got it,” Jill. She slouched, she slumped, she rolled her eyes up and lifted one foot to rest it against the wall. 

“Nice.” Cage nodded her approval. “That’s very good for a first try. You’ve never smoked before, right?” 

Jill tipped her head to the side. “You know how I look like a geeky good girl?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Cage answered. 

“Well I am a geeky good girl. The worst thing I ever did in school was look up High School Musical fan fiction on the computers in the library.” 

“Troy and Gabriella fics?” 

“Yes.” Jill looked a little bit embarrassed. But only a little bit. “And stories about Ryan and Chad.” 

Cage remembered being a teenager, being gangly, eager and angry in a way that was full of heat in it’s intensity but vague in it’s focus. She wanted to touch that youthful feeling of defiance, to sit with it. Wanted it’s purity and fervour. 

“So what’s this all about then?” Jill waved the hand holding her cigarette around, gesturing at the illicit smoke break and Cage’s presence in the garden. 

Cage had been helpless in the transport vehicle after the rocket had hit it. She’d been pinned. Snared. It had been like being an adolescent again. Like that feeling of being trapped by age, inexperience, the expectations of others, geography, lack of opportunities, her own fears and the unbearable vastness of everything she didn’t know. Cage hated feeling helpless. 

“I didn’t predict Murdoc’s move. He got the better of us. I don’t like that. So,” Cage gave a soft snort of bitter laughter, “I’m playing at being a defiant teen so I can tell myself that I haven’t been completely defeated because, here I am, doing something I’m not supposed to.” 

Jill hummed and flicked ash from the end of her cigarette. “The only thing we can predict about Murdoc is that he’s unpredictable. There’s no way anyone could have known how today was going to end. You, Mac and Jack are all okay, that’s what really matters.” 

“Yeah, I know that really,” Cage said. That was why she was James Dean-ing it against a rough wall at the back of the Phoenix building. Anger could be blinding, it could dull the perceptions and Cage’s job was to see, judge, extrapolate and conclude. Grey cinders dropped to the ground from the end of her cigarette. “After I’ve broken the rules for a while I’ll feel better,” she said, “I just need to get all the frustration out of my system.” If she gave herself an outlet for her ire the need to rage taut in her shoulders would pass and she could face the problem of Murdoc with a clear head. 

“So what’s next?” Jill teased. “Are you going to spray graffiti on a wall or get in a bar fight or something?" 

Cage waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe I’ll go to the store on my way home and try to pay for eleven things in the ten items or less checkout.” 

“Steady on, tiger,” Jill said. “Don’t go too crazy.” 

“I’m too tired and bruised for a dramatic insurrection. Maybe I’ll eat dessert for supper or go to bed without brushing my teeth.” Cage let out a sigh, “Or I could just put out this cigarette, take a deep breath and get on with the rest of my day.” She stubbed her cigarette against the wall and dropped the butt into a nearby rubbish bin. 

Jill copied her then patted her pockets and, finding them empty, asked, “Do you have any mints?” 

Cage frowned at her. “You didn’t actually take any drags from that cigarette, your breath won’t smell.” 

“No but the scent of smoke will still be on our clothes – do you think there’s the slightest chance that Matty won’t notice that?” 

“That’s a good point,” Cage said. Nothing got past Matty. “Let’s go and get some gum from one of the vending machines.” 

“I have a bottle of perfume in my bag too.” Jill said as she pulled the door into the Phoenix building open. 

“Perfect.” Cage gestured for Jill to head back inside first and took a last look at the garden before following her. Then she let go of the door and walked away without glancing back as it swung shut. 


End file.
